We are a nation of immigrants: Letter to the Editor

We are a nation of immigrants. Our first settlers migrated south from the Bering Straight, with later waves of migrants arriving across the oceans and our southern and northern borders. We have experienced internal migration as people flee slavery, droughts, floods and unemployment.

We are a democratic nation built on rule of laws meant to create a just social order. Illegal immigration, which is often associated with employment in menial very low wage jobs, is a disruption to our legal system even as these employees have made valuable contributions to our society. We now have the challenge associated with the Dreamers, children who came with illegal immigrants many years ago and have been raised in this country.

Social justice demands that we adjust our legal system to allow these Dreamers, who are Americans in every sense except legal status, a path to citizenship. How else can a country of immigrants, founded on the principal of justice for all, behave?